Muslim Minority Identity in Western Societies: A Systematic Review and Bibliometric Analysis
Keywords:
Cultural Hybridity, Diasporic Identity, Identity Negotiation, Muslim Minority, Western SocietiesAbstract
This study systematically maps scholarly research on the cultural and identity negotiation of Muslim minorities in Western societies through a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis of the Scopus database published between 2004 and 2024. From an initial corpus of 213 records, 22 articles met the inclusion criteria and formed the analytical dataset. The results demonstrate that research on Muslim minority identity constitutes a sustained and significant field of inquiry, with publication trends showing steady growth, particularly after 2018, in response to evolving socio-political conditions in Western contexts. Besides, bibliometric mapping reveals that current research is structured around five dominant thematic clusters: identity negotiation, integration and national belonging, gender and intersectionality, media and representation, and transnational memory and diaspora. High-frequency keywords such as identity, Islam, Europe, cultural identity, religion, and immigrant indicate a strong conceptual emphasis on identity as a relational and contested construct. The findings further show that Muslim minority identity is predominantly theorized as a dynamic process shaped by interactions among state policies, educational institutions, media discourses, everyday religious practices, and collective memory, rather than through fixed or assimilationist models. Theoretically, these patterns reinforce frameworks of diasporic identity and cultural hybridity. Practically, they highlight the need for interdisciplinary approaches that integrate religious studies, sociology, media studies, and education. By empirically situating religion as a lived and socially negotiated practice, this study advances religious studies. Hence, it provides a foundation for future research on religion, identity, and power in plural societies.
References
Avraamidou, L. (2020). “I am a young immigrant woman doing physics and on top of that I am Muslim”: Identities, intersections, and negotiations. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 57(3), 311–341. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21593
Benovska, M. (2024). Uncertain Identities: Bulgarian Muslims between Historical Trauma and Resilience. Slovensky Narodopis, 72(2), 198–227. https://doi.org/10.31577/SN.2024.2.17
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. In Journal of Postcolonial Writing (Vol. 2, Issue 2, pp. 163–177). Routledge.
Çitak, Z. (2017). National conceptions, transnational solidarities: Turkey, Islam and Europe. Global Networks. https://doi.org/10.1111/glob.12184
Coşgel, M., & Minkler, L. (2004). Religious Identity and Consumption. Review of Social Economy, 62, 339–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/0034676042000253945
da Silva, C., de Jong, J., Feddes, A. R., Doosje, B., & Gruev-Vintila, A. (2022). Where Are You Really From? Understanding Misrecognition From the Experiences of French and Dutch Muslim Women Students. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 10(1), 201–217. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.9395
Demetriou, O. (2004). Prioritizing “ethnicities”: The uncertainty of Pomak-ness in the urban Greek Rhodoppe. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 27(1), 95–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/0141987032000147959
Eskelinen, V., Vezzali, L., Di Bernardo, A., & Jasinskaja-Lahti, I. (2023). Multiple existential threats and attitudes towards Muslims in Finland and Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 33(6), 1398–1412. https://doi.org/10.1002/casp.2729
Fleischmann, F., & Phalet, K. (2018). Religion and National Identification in Europe: Comparing Muslim Youth in Belgium, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 49(1), 44–61. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022117741988
Ghatas, I. M. (2023). Muslim Diasporas: An Examination of the Issues of the Second and Third Generation Muslims in Europe. Transformation, 40(2), 156–168. https://doi.org/10.1177/02653788231161338
Gundelach, P. (2010). Democracy and denomination: Democratic values among Muslim minorities and the majority population in Denmark. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33(3), 426–450. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870903019544
Habti, Driss. (2014). The Religious Aspects of Diasporic Experience of Muslims in Europe within the Crisis of Multiculturalism. Policy Futures in Education, 12(1), 149–162. https://doi.org/10.2304/pfie.2014.12.1.149
Hall, S. (2015). □ Cultural Identity and Diaspora. In Colonial discourse and post-colonial theory (pp. 392–403). Routledge.
Hass, B. S. (2021). The hybrid researcher: Entering the field, ethnography and research among dutch muslim women from 2009 to 2019. Religions, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12040278
Hass, B. S., & Lutek, H. (2018). The dutch inside the ‘moslima’ and the ‘moslima’ inside the dutch: Processing the religious experience of muslim women in the netherlands. Societies, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8040123
Hoekstra, M., & Verkuyten, M. (2015). To be a true Muslim: online discussions on the headscarf among Moroccan-Dutch women. Gender, Place and Culture, 22(9), 1236–1251. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2014.958068
Huda, K., & Djono, D. (2025). Hijab, Workplace Discrimination, and Organizational Accommodation: A Systematic Literature Review on Intersectionality, Multicultural Policies, and Advocacy. Riwayat: Educational Journal of History and Humanities, 8, 5594–5613. https://doi.org/10.24815/jr.v8i4.49211
Kemper, M. (2022). Ijtihād in Putin’s Russia? Signature Fatwas from Moscow and Kazan. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 65(7), 935–960. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685209-12341585
Khan, A. (2021). In Defence of an Unalienated Politic: a Critical Appraisal of the ‘No Outsiders’ Protests. Feminist Review, 128(1), 132–147. https://doi.org/10.1177/01417789211013777
Latif, M. A. (2024). The identity of religion always comes up: the war, the mass media and the reproduction of Muslim identity in the west. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-024-01354-2
Maliepaard, Mieke, & Phalet, Karen. (2012). Social Integration and Religious Identity Expression among Dutch Muslims: The Role of Minority and Majority Group Contact. Social Psychology Quarterly, 75(2), 131–148. https://doi.org/10.1177/0190272511436353
Mosawi, S. M. (2024). Everyday Lived Islam among Hazara Migrants in Scotland: Intersectionality, Agency, and Individualisation. Religions, 15(8). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15080950
Omar, A. A. (2011). Islamic identity in the Canadian multicultural context. Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, 3(2).
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., & Brennan, S. E. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Bmj, 372.
Rahman, N. A., & Azzahra, A. (2024). The Role of Islamic Education in Preserving Cultural Identity Amidst Global Modernity. Sinergi International Journal of Islamic Studies, 2(4), 257–271.
Rehman, Ishba, & Hanley, Terry. (2022). Muslim minorities’ experiences of Islamophobia in the West: A systematic review. Culture & Psychology, 29(1), 139–156. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354067X221103996
Sajir, Z. (2023). A Post-Secular Approach to Managing Diversity in Liberal Democracies: Exploring the Interplay of Human Rights, Religious Identity, and Inclusive Governance in Western Societies. Religions, 14(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14101325
Soliman, A. (2019). Muslim Women’s Self-Representation in Art Offering Alternative Counterpublics. Religion and Gender, 9(2), 170–193. https://doi.org/10.1163/18785417-00902002
Spiegler, O., Wölfer, R., & Hewstone, M. (2019). Dual Identity Development and Adjustment in Muslim Minority Adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 48(10), 1924–1937. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01117-9
Syamanta, T., Meiliawati, I., Ayu, R., Windani, S., & Siregar, B. (2024). Towards feminist justice: Reforms and challenges in islamic courts for gender equality and women’s rights. SYARIAT: Akhwal Syaksiyah, Jinayah, Siyasah and Muamalah, 1(1), 36–57.
Timol, R. (2020). Ethno-religious socialisation, national culture and the social construction of British Muslim identity. Contemporary Islam, 14(3), 331–360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-020-00454-y
Torrekens, C. (2021). The Non-Impact of Religious Practices on the Process of Inclusion and Participation of Belgian Muslims. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 41(1), 141–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2021.1894384
Vahidi, H., AkbarFahimi, N., Rahmani, A., & Rassafiani, M. (2023). The Effects of Islamic Culture on the Occupational Performance of Clients Receiving Occupational Therapy in Islamic Countries: A Review Study With Content Analysis Approach. USWR, 24(3), 308–327. https://doi.org/10.32598/RJ.24.3.1451.1
Wachowski, J. (2024). Stranger–Other–Muslim. On the Integration of Muslim Minorities in Europe (from an Anthropological and Cultural Perspective). Środkowoeuropejskie Studia Polityczne, 1, 79–98.
Whyte, S., & Yucel, S. (2023). Australian muslim identities and the question of intra-muslim dialogue. Religions, 14(2), 233.
Zadrożna, A. (2017). Reconstructing the past in a post-Ottoman village: Turkishness in a transnational context. Nationalities Papers, 45(4), 524–539. https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2017.1287690
Zuriet, J., & Lyausheva, S. (2019). Muslim identity in the conceptual field of modern religious studies. SHS Web of Conferences, 72, 02008.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Anis Khoirunnisa Syahrussalamah, Muhammad Nurfazri, Hadela Yuri Nuraprilianti, Dody S. Truna, Erni Haryanti, Afita Nur Hayati, Endah Nur Latifah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
